The Dangers of Craft
by The Wandering Time Lady
Summary: Clara is sick, and all the Doctor can do is stand and watch as she fades away (T for slightly graphic injuries and descriptions)


**Craft**  
**Pairing**: Slight Clara/Eleven  
**Summary**: Clara is sick, and the Doctor doesn't know how to help her  
**Rating**: T for slightly graphic injuries  
**Disclaimer**: I don't own Doctor Who.

**A/N**: Okay, so Confetti poisoning is basically from the SPG universe, and you can research all about it from this user on tumblr, and I guess you don't really need to be apart of the SPG fandom to know what is going on but yeah...

* * *

**Day 1.**

Clara wasn't feeling very well, perhaps it was something she had eaten. The Doctor had insisted on scanning her to make sure that she was okay, and from the results she was fine...maybe a little warm and her pulse a bit to fast for his liking...but she seemed okay.  
She felt a bit funny, as if some part of her mind was telling her 'be serious even though you aren't really' or 'try not to take your shirt off even though it's really hot in here'  
It was strange to her. But she didn't feel that sick so she just brushed it off.

**Day 5**

Okay, so maybe she was wrong. She was feeling more sick everyday. She had no idea what was going on. The Doctor had kept a close watch on her, making sure she was okay. He noticed several different things about her, the way she walk...it was strained. And she had complained of severe back pain a few hours ago.

So bad was this back pain that he insisted that she get some rest. She was a bit pale as well.  
He was getting worried about her. but when he scanned her for the third time, she was fine.  
She had a bit of high blood pressure, but nothing too serious. Why was he worrying so much, she would be fine. She just needs a bit of rest.

**Day 10**

Okay, maybe she wasn't fine. She had been sleeping quite a bit lately, and he was starting to properly worry.  
"Clara, I need to know what's wrong with you, please just come with me to the sick bay"  
"I'm fine Doctor, I'm just a bit worn out" Her voice cracked lowering half an octave.  
"No you are not, now come with me, can you walk?" He asked her, she had tried to stand up, but fell over and cried out in pain  
"Guess not" Picking her up he carried her to the sick bay.

Setting her gingerly on a cot, he decided it was time to live up to his name. A few blood tests and a full body scan later, revealed that she just had a bit of the flu. But the symptoms weren't matching up, so he gave her some medicine that should help.  
He was worried about her. He loved her and didn't want to see anything bad happen to her.

...

Clara groaned as he set her on the bed, she was in pain, but she didn't want to bug the Doctor over it because she didn't want him to be too worried about her.

She gritted her teeth. her back hurt so badly she wanted to cry.  
She managed to stand up, and heading to the wall she slumped against it.  
Finding that it actually helped a bit, she ground her back against the wall, the new pain feeling strangely good for some reason.  
She felt something cold on her back but she just brushed it off.  
Finally too exhausted to relieve her pain anymore she stumbled to her bed.  
She didn't notice the scratch marks left in the wallpaper.

**Day 15**

She felt a bit better, after the back scratching incident. She found that if she did that once every few nights the pain would subside and she would feel somewhat like herself again.

It was in the early morning when she had her usual bathroom routine that she noticed the dark splotches underneath her eyes, it looked like they were from lack of sleep.

Her skin was really itchy, so she decided that a shower would help.  
Finally scrubbing herself down a bit, she got out and felt a lot better, maybe it was just the flu.  
That thought blew out the window as soon as she looked in the mirror, a small glint of silver on her right shoulder was peeking though. as she examined it she discovered that it was cool and felt like metal.  
She was feeling properly scared now, what was actually happening to her and why did she have a piece of metal in her shoulder.

...

When the Doctor examined it, he too was worried. He had no idea what it was, and so kissing her forehead he promised her that he would find a cure if it was the last thing he ever did.  
He loved her too much, and he told her that. right before he said she should get some rest.  
As soon as she stalked away to her room to sleep, the Doctor frantically ran to the Tardis library. There had to be some answers there.

**Day 20**

When Clara awoke it felt like her whole back was on fire. and it burned. And she swore that she heard a small 'click' when she scratched her back.  
She examined it, and was shocked to find on her lower spine a small protrusion of metal as it clicked back into place.  
She was sure she was dreaming it up. She had to be, this was all just a dream and she was going to wake up now.  
She lied back down on her bed, and fell asleep instantly, she was going to wake up and this would be all over.

...

He was frantically searching now, he was scared. He didn't want his Clara to get hurt and she was in pain.

He searched the library for everything he could. starting with the symptoms, and finally after a day of searching he found what he was looking for: A worn out book entitled "Secrets of the Craft Elements"  
As he looked through this book, he found a whole bunch of different types of diseases...but the book was huge and would take him days to find the one effecting Clara.

**Day 25**

She woke up screaming, it hurt. It hurt so badly, she quickly ran to the washroom and threw up, finally finishing, she slumped down against the cool tile, wiping her mouth of what ever throw up didn't make the toilet, she discovered that it was a black oily substance mixed with blood. Her head swam as she took this in, she was actually properly terrified now, but she couldn't find her voice to call for him...  
She had thrown up the bloody oil several times that day. It hurt so badly.

Finally being able to stand up, after spending at least 3 hours on the tiled floor, she looked in the mirror.  
She looked like hell, her eyes had developed even darker circles than before, what shocked her most was her eyes.  
They were different. One was a shocking blue colour that glowed slightly in the light.  
"Doc-tor!" She finally managed to call, her voice sounded rough and scratchy. but it had done the trick, within several minutes he was there by her side.  
"Clara! what happened!?" He asked looking at the mess, "Sick bay. now." was all he said before picking her up and carrying her away.

She was sleeping now, again. It worried him so much to see her in this state. He was reading the book when he found the section he was looking for. but it hardly seemed possible, because she had not come into contact with the craft element it was describing.  
Confetti.

It was ridiculous name, but it was toxic and known to be extremely poisonous to humans.  
He read on, shocked at the information laid before him, when he read the last words he threw the book across the room, it landed with a dull thud in the corner.  
There was no cure.

**Day 30**

She was up in the middle of the night, screaming and crying about how it hurts. It was killing her, oil and blood seeped from her mouth and she twitched uncontrollably. It felt like her organs were being torn open. she was getting dizzy and weak from the pain, stars danced across her visions as she finally collapsed and fell off the cot.

The Doctor was, to put it mildly, startled. He quickly reached out and grabbed her before she landed on the ground. She had come to once again screaming bloody murder.  
With a scan he discovered that her stomach was gone. well, it was there, but it was...changing. as he looked at the screen he could see bits of metal seeping around and covering her insides, causing her extreme pain, but it was dangerous.  
He needed to find a cure.

He had too or she would die. and he would not let that happen. Never. Not his Clara.  
Her face contorted in pain, bits of flesh peeling away to show the silver and red beneath, blood and metal.  
She was crying oily tears and her eyes glowed with an unseen amount of pain.  
"Doc-to r plea-se maake-it sttop" she managed to choke out.  
He was in the lab working, he had the sample of her blood, and upon further inspection he was that it was slightly shimmering with the confetti.

He had to find the cure.  
He had to save her.  
She was dying this minute.

**Day 31**

She was dying. She could feel it, even though she was trying to hold back the pain, her pained screeches echoed throughout the Tardis, which felt sorry for her and hummed as if apologizing about how it treated her.

She couldn't hold it any longer, and screaming as it happened, her spines extended ripping into the mattress and trapping her to the bed.  
She could feel the springs of the cot digging into her spines and it hurt. Not as much as her stomach but it was still hurt, and she couldn't even do anything to make it better, She had cried, and she was so thirsty. She needed water and a hug.

...

He had done what he could. He almost had it, he was working with all his might, trying things like star-dust and alien chemicals. He almost had it.  
He would save her.  
Then, he heard her screaming again, he couldn't bear to see her in pain. It pained him.  
He needed to check on her. Make sure she was still alive and breathing and real.  
Walking into the sick bay he was shocked when he had seen her.

Her face was a mix of metal, flesh and blood. oil dripped from her mouth and blood seeped from her torn cheeks  
her lips were black with the oil and her eyes were glowing bright blue.  
She was in pure agony. and it horrified him.  
What horrified him more was that she appeared to be stuck to the bed. Her back protruding metal smoke stack like objects.  
He needed to test his cure. But he was scared to test it on her...What if it didn't work.

He needed more time.  
Teary eyed and tired, he stroked her hair.

"I Promise, I will find the cure, and once I do, you are never leaving me again"  
She nodded with what strength she had left. She was so tired, and watched him staggered back through the door that led to the lab.  
She closed her eyes and focused on something that wasn't the agonising pain.

**Day 32**

He woke up surprised to find it relatively quiet. That wasn't good.  
Or maybe it was. Maybe it was all just a dream and he had woken up from that terrible nightmare. a gurgling noise drew his attention from his mind.

Rushing to the sick bay he saw her, she looked so sick, her face an angry red, covered in blood and oil and metal peeking through every so often.

She looked at him, eyes dim. and let out a strangled groan.  
He didn't like that. It meant something really really not good. Checking the scanner, he stared in horror at what he saw. Her lungs were almost consumed by the metal coating, she was going to die.  
The only thing left untouched was her heart, it had the least amount of metal patina. She was going to die today. whether the cure worked or not.

"Doc-tor" She whimpered. her voice strangled and tinny. "i-i-i'm sor-ry" she sounded so...robotic. It killed him to see her go like this, in utter agony from something so unlikely. He didn't even know how she even got the damn confetti in her!  
She was gurgling again, her eyes glowing dimmer in the artificial light of the sick bay. "r-run. yoou cle-ver boooy. an an and ru ruhmembr me" she whispered. oil leaking down her mouth.  
Her eyes dimmed and she was gone. there was nothing to be done. Her body mangled beyond what even imagined, the spines still lodged into the cot, flesh torn and bleeding. oil seeping from an impossible amount of places. She looked nothing like herself.  
He couldn't even stand to look at her anymore, she was an empty shell of what she once was. All the beauty of her eroded away until nothing remained except her soul. She was free now, no more pain or anguish.  
Tears slid down his face as he left.

He would make sure she was buried properly. that was for certain.

She deserved it. She deserved to live.

But, like many of her failed soufflés, she was too beautiful inside and outside to live, and he finally collapsed in a fit of sobs. Screaming about how she deserved to live more than he did.

A tiny shadow lurked behind him, trying to comfort the broken man. She would always be there.

* * *

A/N: and yep basically she was turning into a robot and it killed her.


End file.
